Film: 'Eddie The Eagle' (2016)

(Pre-planned holiday cover post)

As a general rule, you shouldn't write about films immediately after seeing them. Even I, the grand objective, am subject to partiality in the very short time reaction. However, I ignore that rule very frequently, so why stop now? I throw away arbitrary rules with glee.

Firstly, of course I cried; It was a very well told version of the Eddie The Eagle story, and I cry at practically any appropriate film which is made even semi-adequately. (Again, I cried while watching Disney's 'Bolt', which is a very ambiguous symptom.)

'Eddie the Eagle' is a fictionalised version of the real Olympic story of Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards, our entire British ski jumping squad for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. An unlikely hero from start to finish, and one with only a year of practice under his belt, our eponymous and bespectacled chap made quite the splash in coming last in two categories of jump while simultaneously breaking two British records and recording his own personal bests in the process. The rest of the film is entirely made up, I think, and involves his reluctant and inebriated coach, as played by Hugh 'I'm real in everything I do' Jackman.

It's a good film, and 'feel good' in almost every way that counts. Dexter Fletcher, who I know from his astonishing performance in the very old series 'Press Gang' (which I may have written about, some while ago), directs fantastically well. Who would have thought that guy with the fake American accent would have turned out so well? He even cast Colin! Yes, Colin from 'Press Gang' is in this! Isn't loyalty wonderful? He wasn't wearing a suit covered in half ping-pong balls, but you can't have everything. Eddie is played by Taran Egerton, and does have problems hitting the correct tone for a while, playing the real life mannerisms like someone halfway down a particularly demented alley. He does, however, pull it together increasingly well in the second half of the narrative.

Go ahead, be uplifted. It's a decent movie, a great underdog story, and deserves to be seen. Or, if you like, go see 'Real Steel' instead. Hugh Jackman is just one of those guys who can do no wrong...

O.

PS Oh, and if you were ever under the illusion that the Olympics is actually about showcasing sportsmen, then let that go now. The cynicism underlying the whole endeavour is utterly appalling. They (you know... THEM.) actively changed the rules to prevent him from ever qualifying again. What abject creepery. Here endeth the lesson.